EDITORIAL: 113th Congress - Putting the nothing’ back into do-nothing

Congress takes its share of abuse as a political body frozen by partisanship.

But no one thought it was cryogenically frozen, as if suspended for years in limbo awaiting its time to be thawed when a better political landscape may be in the offing.

What else, then, is anyone to think when confronted with this piece of information: Since the 113th Congress convened in January, it has passed just 15 bills.

Do the math. Thatís 15 bills over nearly seven months. They are managing to churn out legislation at a rate of just over two bills a month. As productivity goes, itís right, uh, down there.

Now before going any further weíll note that in some corners this might be considered a good thing. After all, less government intervention canít be all bad. If Congress isnít manufacturing new bills, then it canít be making more absurd laws for Americans to follow, or spending more of our paychecks.

Would that it actually worked that way.

According to the St. Louis Post Dispatch, the 113th Congress is the least productive in modern history. If you stop and consider the size of our nation today and all the complications that come with it, then it could be considered the least productive ever.

The argument could be made that this 15-bill mark overstates the usefulness of this Congress. Its members took matters like appropriating relief for victims of Hurricane Sandy and reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act and turned them into dramatic, chest-thumping productions. Two of the 15 bills involved commemorative coins and gold medals.

Stop the presses.

What Congress has done, mostly, is talk, shuffle papers and offer windy debates for cable news audiences over big issues like immigration, gun laws, sequestration and student loans. This week, the U.S. Senate, under threat of Democrats changing the rules regarding filibusters, actually took action on some presidential nominees.

Stop the presses again.

Democrats are quick to lay blame at the feet of intransigent Republicans bent on making the Obama Administration look bad ó or at the very least, as if the president is accomplishing very little. It would perhaps be a fair point if the administration was offering much in the way of leadership, or even a clear vision for the nation.

In fact, at this juncture, no one in either party seems to be capable of such a leap.

People notice. Itís no mystery why Congress has an approval rating with the American public that rivals a baseball pitcherís earned run average. The prospects for improvement are pretty dim, too. What lies ahead is yet another debate on raising the debt ceiling.

We know how well that turned out last time.

Page 2 of 2 - Thereís still one way for members of Congress to band together and perhaps save the nation some money.